Although he's still months away from starting his junior season of football, Forestville (Md.) Bishop McNamara offensive tackle Damian Prince is drawing big interest from college coaches. The 6-7, 300-pounf sophomore has already picked up eleven scholarship offers, and more will likely be on the way soon.

Because he's still so far off from signing a letter of intent - nearly two years - Prince is in no hurry to narrow his list of schools.

"It's pretty much open right now," he said. "I haven't started to narrow it down nor cut anybody out yet. I would say Michigan is up there, but everybody else is still in the game."

Michigan's offer came during the month of February, and Prince plans to repay the Wolverines' interest in him with a visit to their campus. He has been to Maryland several times, and will see North Carolina this spring, as well. All other visits are still up in the air.

What he does know now is the list of criteria that he'll use to evaluate each program that he sees.

"I'm going to look at their campus, and I'm going to look at their weight room and facilities," he said. "I'm going to look at their field, I'm going to look at their offensive linemen, and see the way that they're built, and the way that they interact with each other and their coaching staff, mainly."

Since receiving Michigan's offer through his high school coach, Prince has taken the initiative and gotten to know his area recruiter, Michigan defensive backs coach Curt Mallory. Although he's yet to get into touch with offensive line coach Darrell Funk, he's beginning to get comfortable with Michigan. One thing he knows for sure is that they would love to see him play in Ann Arbor.

"Coach Mallory just told me that he sees a lot of great things that I do on the football field," Prince said. "He said that he and their offensive line coach love my power and my size, and they love my ability to move, which is very important to playing left tackle. He said he saw a lot of great things that I do."

Flattery isn't the only thing that Michigan has going in its favor, of course. There is also a long tradition of talented offensive linemen going from Ann Arbor to the NFL. Prince could eventually see himself being the next in that line.

"I was excited because I know that Michigan has produced one of the best left tackles in the NFL now in Jake Long," Prince said of being recruited by Michigan. "I was just kind of excited to know that a school that helped produce one of the best offensive left tackles sees potential in me."

He'll know more about how much he's interested in them after he makes it to campus this summer. This fall, he'll look to improve upon his second-team All-WCAC honors, and help Bishop McNamara improve upon last season's 3-6 record.